Well, big progress this past week. Today was, in fact, my biggest workout to date in terms of pack weight. I first did a one-hour trail hike through Laguna Hills with my new backpack - a Bora 95. At 6,000 cu. in., it's expedition size. I weighted it down with 20# to give me some light resistance as I hiked. You can see my new "Sunrunner" hat from Outdoor Research; when it comes to sun exposure, I don't mess around. I'm taking the best solar protection available. Although you can't see my altitude watch, it's on and working. Not bad given that I've have not used it in three years. And finally, I wore my new hiking shoes, Merrell, which seem to be just fine. These will be my primary hiking shoes for the Inca Trail in early April.
Later, I walked over the the gym, loaded the pack up with 60# of weight (2 x 30# hand weights) and hiked for 25 minutes. This is the heaviest weight I've carried to date. From the profile picture, you can get a sense of the pack's size. It was a tough carry.
Yesterday, I did a longer hike at a lower weight. In the gym, where I test changes in any variables - weight, speed, incline, neww gear - I carried 40# for 55 minutes. After a short 5 minute rest, I continued with a 35 minute walk with the same weight. This was much easier than when I first tried 40#.
On Sunday, I did a one-hour hike with 20# of weight.
From Wednesday through Saturday of this past week, I did long 1 - 2 hour hikes without weights or a pack. For some of these walks, I wore my new Merrell hiking shoes to help break then in.
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